Ticket holder and cutter.



A. L BLANCHARD.

TICKET HOLDER AND CUTTER.

(Application led Mar. 21, 1898.)

Patented Aug. I, |899.

(No Model.)

Co N D u c T o Rs x. CASH FARE REcE|P`T G. P. A g THREE PROJ ECTIONS ARE ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED on EACH REcElPr. 711/5 cfmf/S nur@ m/a nar z DOLLARS I DlMEs CENTS.

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ALLEN I. BLANCHARD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

'TICKET HOLDER AND CUTTER.

srEcIrIcA'rIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 630,026, dated August 1, 1899.

Application filed March 21 189.8.

To CtZZ whom t may concern:

y Be it known that I, ALLEN I. BLANCHARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of -Cook, in the State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ticket Holders and Cutters, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates more particularly to an improved holder and cutter for use in connection with railway-conductors cash-fare receipts such as that shown and described in Patent No. 405,820, heretofore granted to me .I une 25, 1889. As described in said patent, these cashfare receipts consist of printed slips adapted to be separated lengthwise into two portions or halves in such a way that the amount of the fare is indicated upon both of such halves, one of which is handed to the passenger as a receipt for his cash fare and the other of which is retained by the conductor and turned in with his report.

My invention has for its object the provision of a simple, cheap, and efficient holder for holding the supply of such loose cash-fare receipts which may be conveniently carried in the conductors pocket and which is provided with an adjustable tearing-knife or straightedge having suitable notches by means of which the uppermost printed slip in the supply carried in the holder may be readily separated into halves in such a way as to indicate the amount of the fare received on both of such halves and so that the severed halves may both be readily removed from the holder and one handed to the passenger and the other placed in the conductor-s pocket.

The novelty of my invention will be hereinafter set forth, and specificallypointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved holder and cutter; Fig. 2,a corresponding view of the same with a supply of printed slips in it; Fig. 3, a face view of one of the slips before it is separated into halves, and Fig. 4 a corresponding view after separation.

The same letters of reference are used to indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

The body of the holder is preferably Serial No. 674,591. (No model.)

stamped and bent from a piece of sheet metal, and consists of a bottom plate A, preferably provided along its edges with narrow vertical iianges B, bent upward from the bottom A. At three corners of the holder the flanges I3 are preferably provided with vertical eXtensions C, adapted to embrace the three, correspending corners of the pile of printed slips when placed in the holder and the better retain them in position therein. In practice there is placed upon the bottom plate A, beneath the pile of slips, a piece of pasteboard, snugly fitting within the anges B and of a thickness approximately corresponding to the height of such flanges along the left-hand end and lower side of the holder in Figs. l and 2, so that the lowermost slips in the pile are supported in about the same horizontal plane as the upper edges of said flanges to thereby facilitate the removal of the conductors halves of them, as hereinafter described.

Extending longitudinally of the holder is a guide D for the adjustable knife or straightedge hereinafter described. This guide D may be of any suitable form which will serve to hold said straight-edge in place and guide it in its longitudinal movements, but in the present instance consists of a narrow metal strip or plate. Its opposite ends are detachably connected to the inwardly-bent ends of a wire spring E, whose main portion extends longitudinally along the bottom plate A of the holder, at its upper or right-hand side in Fig. l, and projects through holes in the opposite corners of the holder and has its extremities bent inward at right angles to its main portion and connected to the ends of the guide-strip D, as stated. At its middle the spring E is provided with a bend F, Fig. i, which projects through a hole or slot cut in spring with the bottom plate tends to force the inwardly-bent opposite ends of the spring downward and causes them to press the guidestrip D downward upon the pile of slips within the holder. The detachable connection of the guide D with the ends of the spring E permits the ready removal of the guide when a fresh supply of tickets is to be placed in the holder and its replacement and reattachment to the spring.

The adjustable tearing-knife or straight- 4the bottom plate A, which engagement of the IOO edge consists of a thin strip of metal G, placed beneath the guide-strip D and extending longitudinally thereof and having lugs II struck upward from it upon opposites sides of the guide-strip D and embracing the latter. It is also provided with a thumb-piece I, also struck up and pressed out of the body of the plate and provided at its opposite sides with narrow transverse slots through which passes the guide-strip D, the parts being in such instance assembled before the ends of the guidestrip are connected to the ends of the spring E. The tearing edge of the knife G is provided with two V-shaped notches J and J.

t W'hen the supply of printed slips is placed in the holder as above constructed, the ends of the spring E press the guide-strip D and straight-edge G down upon the pile of slips and hold them in position in the holder. The tearing edge of the knife G extends longitudinally along the slip immediately above the series of printed figures on the slip by which the amounts of the fares paid are to be indicated, and the horizontal line of the lower ends or points of the V-shaped notches in the knife lies immediately below said series of figures, while, as before explained, the knife may be adjusted longitudinally along the guide-strip D to bring its notch J or J opposite different figures in the several series as may be necessary to indicate the amount of the cash fare received.

Assuming now that a cash fare of three dollars and twenty-five cents is received and the passenger is to be given a receipt for that amount, the operation will be as follows: The conductor will grasp the ticket-holder with his left hand, with his fingers beneath its bottom and his thumb upon the thumb-piece I of the knife G, and adjust the latter longitudinally of the guide-strip D until its notch J is brought opposite the figure 3 in the dollar series, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. He will then grasp the upper right-hand corner of the uppermost slipand pull it upward and to the left against the edge of the knife G and tear it along the same to a point some distance below the notch J, preferably to about the line of division between the dollar and dimes set of figures. This will form a projection on the right-hand or upper portion of the torn slip corresponding to the notch J in the knife G, and upon such projection will appear the figure 3. A corresponding V-shaped notch will be formed in the opposite half ot' the torn ticket between the numbers 2 and 4 in the dollar series, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. After the dollar portion of the cash fare has thus been indicated the knife G will be slipped downwardly along the guide D until its lower notch J' is brought opposite the figure 2 in the dime series, when the right-hand portion of the partially-severed slip will be farther torn along the edge of the knife to a point below the figure 2 in the dime series, thus forming a second projection upon the right-hand portion of the torn slip bearing the ligure 2 in the dime series and also forming a corresponding V- shaped notch upon the opposite half of the slip between the 3 and the l in the dime series, as shown in Fig. 4. The knife G will be next slid still farther downward along the strip D, its lower end passing beneath the end of the spring E and projecting beyond the holder until its notch J is brought opposite the figure 5 in the cent series, whereupon the right-hand portion of the partially-sew ered slip will be torn off against the edge of the knife G and completely severed from the left-hand portion of the slip, forming a third projection upon it bearing the gure 5in the cent series and a corresponding V-shaped notch in the left-hand portion of the slip between the 4 and the G in the cent series, as shown in Fig. 4.

By the above described operation the printed slip will be separated into the two halves shown in Fig. 4, upon the upper one of which the amount of $3.25 will be clearly shown upon the three projections under the headings Dollars, Dimes, and Cents, while a corresponding amount will be likewise indicated by the notches left in the three series of figures upon the lower half. The upper or right-hand half of the slip, which the conductor grasps between the thumb and finger of his right hand in the operation of separating the slip, as above described, and which he therefore holds in his right hand at the end of the operation, constitutes the passengers receipt and will be handed him by the conductor. The opposite or lower half of the slip is left in place beneath the guidestrip D and knife G and is removed by the conductor and placed in his pocket after handing the passenger his part of the slip. In removing the conductors portion of the slip from the holder the conductor has simply to slip the thumb of his left hand off of the thumb-piece I of the knife G onto the upper surface of the portion of the slip to be removed, and then by pressing upon the latter and drawing his thumb to the left it may be readily withdrawn from beneath the guidestrip D and knife G, to permit which withdrawal the holder is unprovided at its adjacent corner with the retaining extensions (l of the flanges B, which are present at the other three corners of the holder, as heretofore described.

I am aware that since the introduction into use of my cash-fare receipts such as above looY IIO

described it has been proposed to use such Y receipts in connection with a holder and cutter of the same general nature as my improved holder a-nd cutter above describedthat is to say, in connection with a holder and cutter consisting of a body or receptacle similar to that of my improved holder and cutter and provided with a spring similar to the spring E, acting upon a longitudinal guide-piece pressed down upon the top of the pile of slips placed within the holder; but

such prior holders and cutters, so far as I arn informed, have not been provided with a longitudinally-adjustable knife orstraight-edge corresponding to the knife G of my improved holder or cutter. On the contrary, the knife or straight-edge has been non-adjustable and has had mounted upon it adjustable tearingpoints projecting laterally beyond its tearing edge, such points being adjustable longitudinally of the knife to bring them opposite the desired gures in the several series and the slip being then torn in halves against the iixed knife or straight-edge and the adjustable points projecting beyond the same. Several difficulties and objections are encountered in the practical use of such holders7 of which it will suffice to mention two. In the first place, the slip can be severed in halves and the proper amount indicated in my improved holder and cutter, with its longitudinally-adjustable straight-edge, with greater facility than the same operation can be performed in the prior holders above mentioned, and, in the secondv place, in such prior holders owing to the fact that the indications of the amount of the fare were formed by points projecting beyond the tearing edge of the knife (instead of by notches extending within the edge of the knife) the indications of the amount were formed by notches in the right-hand or upper half of the slip, which the conductor grasped in his right hand in the operation of separating the slip in halves, while the projections were left upon the loweror left-hand half of the slip. Now the amount of the fare is much more clearly indicated on the half of the slip bearing the projections and the figures upon them than it is upon the opposite half, from which such figures have been removed and notches left between the adjacent iigures, as will be apparent from Fig. 4 of my drawings. To such extent is this true that it is always the practice and so considered necessary in the practical use of my cash-fare receipts to use the half of the slip bearing the projections and figures for the passengers half and retain the other half having the notches for the conductors portion or auditors stub.77 Owing to this fact in the prior holders referred to the conductor was not able to hand the passenger the portion of the slip which he tore off with his right hand, but had to place that half in his pocket and then disengage the other half from the holder and hand that to the passenger, which sequence of operation has been found awkward and objectionable in practice and doubly so in the holders heretofore used for the reason that as constructed the left-hand half of the severed slip could not be removed from beneath the spring-pressed guide and tearing-knife with anything like the facility with which it can be done in my improved holder, in which latter, as before explained, the conductor has in his right hand at the moment he completes the separation of the slip the very portion which he wishes to hand to the passenger, while he removes the opposite portion of the slip from the holder by simply pressing the thumb of his left hand upon such portion as he withdraws his thumb from the holder.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claiml. In a ticket holder and cutter, the combination with a ticket-receptacle, of a tearingknife or straight-edge having one or more notches adapted to form projections in the edge of one portion of a slip torn against it and corresponding notches in the edge of the other portion of said slip, said straight-edge being adjustable longitudinally, and a spring to force said straight-edge down upon the tickets in said receptacle.

2. In a ticket holder and cutter, the combination with a ticket-receptacle, of a guide piece running longitudinally of the holder, a spring to force said guide-piece down upon the tickets in said receptacle, a tearing-knife or straight-edge guided by said guide-piece and longitudinally adjustable relative to said ticket-receptacle, said straight-edge having one or more notches adapted to form projections on the edge of one portion of a slip torn against itand corresponding notches in the edge of the other portion.

3. In a ticket holder and cutter, the combination with a receptacle A B C for tickets, of a guide-piece D placed longitudinally thereof, the spring E having its opposite ends secured to said guide-piece D, and the tearingknife or straight-edge G located beneath said guide-piece and longitudinally adjustable thereon,said straight-edge having the notches J, J', and thumb-piece I for moving it along the guide-piece D.

4. A ticket holder comprising a bottom plate A having vertically-projecting edge iianges B, retaining extensions C at three corners of said plate but not at the fourth corner, the guide D extending longitudinally of said holder, and the spring E, the body portion of which extends longitudinally of lsaid holder and the inwardly-bent ends of which are connected with the opposite ends of said guide-piece D to force the latter against the tickets in said holder.

5. In a ticket-holder, the combination with the ticket-receptacle A B C, of the spring E, the body portion of which extends longitudinally of said receptacle at one side thereof, said body portion being connected to said receptacle and having the inwardly-bent ends, of the guide D extending longitudinally of the holder and having its opposite ends detachably connected to the said inwardly-bent ends of the said springE to permit said guide to be IOO IIO

readily detached from said spring to allow the i insertion of the tickets in said receptacle.

6. In a ticket-holder, the combination with a ticket-receptacle formd of the bottom plate A having the side ianges B and the corner extensions C, said bottom plate A having av slot formed therein, of a spring E the body A portion of which extends along one side of said holder longitudinally thereof, said Springv having inwardly-bent ends and a retaining- 5 bend F proj eating through the slot in the said bottom plate A, and the guide D connected at its ends to the inwardly-bent ends of the spring E and extending longitudinally of the said holder.

ALLEN I. BLANCHARD.

lvit-nesses:

LEoNoRA WISEMAN, EDWARD RECTOR. 

